Thanks for coming to our Learning Celebration yesterday. The children were proud to perform for you and to show you their classrooms. Thanks for your support, and thanks to those parents who organized and provided treats for the “cast party.”

This week was filled with preparations for yesterday’s festivities. On Tuesday we performed for one another in the Garage for the first time. On Wednesday we had our dress rehearsal in front of an adoring audience comprised of our third grade Book Buddies and the Preschool. Our “putting on a play” project helps children embrace many ideas that we hope will follow them into adulthood. We hope they will learn to persevere through feeling nervous, to recognize that mistakes are part of the process, that practicing a skill can help one improve, and that being flexible, listening, and being cooperative are essential when working and creating with a group.

We are continuing to write in our journals, which you will receive next week, along with lots of other work.

This week had a few kindergarten “lasts.” Today was our last Family Circle activity, where students shared a final theme project with another Family Circle. Then all K-8 students rotated through three fun field activities. The students said good-bye to their 8th grade Family Group leaders. Next week we will have our last book buddies, last writing workshop, and last day of school.

To be super clear, the next two events -- Move-Up Day and graduation -- are for students only. This Monday, June 5, is Move-Up Day. For the period before lunch and lunchtime, the kindergartners spend time in the Primary Unit (first and second grade classrooms). Each of our groups will be in a different Primary classroom. The classroom your child visits may or may not be where s/he is placed for next year. (You will get next year's classroom assignments at the end of the summer.) Move-Up Day is a fun way to ease the transition into a new grade for next year and to help familiarize students with some of next year’s classmates, spaces, and teachers. The kindergartners wrote a book for us to read to the preschoolers who will visit our classrooms on Move Up Day about what there is to look forward to in kindergarten.

Friday, June 9, is Graduation Day and the last day of school. Dismissal is at 11:30 a.m. There is no ASEP program that day. Your children will meet you in the Garden at 11:30 a.m., and we will have a table full of fresh vegetables that they harvested for you to take home if you would like. Every class participates in graduation in some capacity. Kindergarten sings “Make New Friends” with the graduates at the conclusion of the event but spends most of our day in our classrooms. It is amazing and wonderful to hear how many of the graduates remember singing to the “big eighth graders” when they were in kindergarten. We ask that your child “dress up” a bit for the celebration.

With all the talk about endings and summer approaching, inevitably children are showing a wide variety of emotions. You may notice your child(ren) acting out more, seem more sensitive, or complain of ailments more than usual. Transitions are hard for all of us, and we do our best to put closure on our year together in a meaningful way. You can help your child process all of this by trying to be a little extra patient and understanding and highlighting all the positive things about the year of growth they have had and all the exciting things they have to look forward to.

Questions to ask your child/Activities to do with your child:

How did you feel about performing your play?

What was your favorite part about performing?

What were you excited to show me in your classroom? Why?

What was your Family Circle activity? What did you enjoy about the field activities?

What are your three most favorite things about kindergarten? Why are they your favorite?

What are you looking forward to this summer?

What are three things you learned in kindergarten?

Share your favorite memories of when you were in kindergarten.

Make up mathematical story problems for one another. For example, there were four kids going swimming, each of them had a floatie on each arm. How many floaties were there?